Optimized Approach toward Identification of Influential Cost Overrun Causes in Construction Industry

Prioritization is considered a core concept in cost overrun analysis. This study first aimed at proposing a new approach for the calculation of total risk magnitude (TRM) and, second, introduced the application of Pareto analysis in the prioritization of cost overrun causes. A case study is delineated to explain the applicability of the aforementioned approaches. Thirty-eight unique causes of cost overrun in urban-related construction projects were identified and a survey was conducted among construction professionals in Iran. The TRM for each cost overrun cause is calculated using single-attribute (SA), double-attribute (DA), and multiple-attribute (MA) approaches. Henceforth, based on calculated TRM, the causes are prioritized using the relative importance index (RII) and Pareto analysis. A comparative analysis revealed that not only could Pareto-based prioritization be effectively employed for prioritization, but also, the proposed MA approach for TRM calculation optimizes the efficiency of the most influential cause identification.